


The Oleander’s Gardener

by saltyburning



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a Mother Mother Song, Castiel and Dean Winchester Use Their Words, Castiel and Dean Winchester in Love, Comfort/Angst, Dean Winchester Has Abandonment Issues, Dean Winchester Has Self-Worth Issues, Fallen Angel Castiel (Supernatural), I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kissing, M/M, Midwest Gothic vibes, Not a song fic tho, Protective Castiel (Supernatural), Sort Of, Winged Castiel (Supernatural), Worth It, he’s fallen for dean but also he’s Fallen for dean, it was literally 2am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29464863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltyburning/pseuds/saltyburning
Summary: He can’t save the worldandsave Dean, but that’s exactly what he did. Of course, it came at a price.His wings crumble to the ground as ashes.Based off of Oleander by Mother Mother - “White white leaves, of an oleander ... I burn you right out, I burned your bible.”
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	The Oleander’s Gardener

**Author's Note:**

> I was freaking out with someone over Mother Mother and Supernatural at a destiel wedding and they mentioned how Oleander is a destiel song and uh, well. I wrote this at 2am I guess.

“It’s over.” 

Cas spoke as if breathing shards of glass and Dean couldn’t help but shudder. Dry grass swayed in the silence, dipping under the weight of fallen ashes. 

A sharp pattern of skeletal wings lay on the ground, framing the silhouette of an angel’s shadow. He moved, but the wings remained. Cinders and dust. Already some had drifted, picked up by the wind, swirling in spirals like some sort of sick cremation. 

“Cas,” Dean tried, voice coming out as a hollow whisper. He cleared his throat and repeated, “Cas, your wings, they-“ 

Castiel nodded. A small smile played on his lips and Dean blinked as if to clear haze away. “I know, Dean.” 

“But that means you’re not an angel anymore.” His words felt as empty as the field around them. The sky was blue and bare of clouds. The sun beamed down on them, harsh enough to make the land gleam white, but he shivered. 

The world reached its arms around the boy and he huddled within them, feeling very, very small. 

Castiel nodded, as if anything about their situation was okay. The smile was still there and Dean wanted to cry, wanted to cry without having to know the reason. 

He asked anyways, pulling and stretching his face into the expression of a boy mimicking a father. He stormed forward, head bowed like a bull, long-dead grass brushing against his ankles as he shouted, “What the hell, Cas! _Why_?” His words were supposed to thunder but instead they fell, muffled by the endless midwest. 

Cas stepped towards him. Peaceful, despite the blood dripping from the gash in his forehead, still carrying the shimmer of ichor. “Because I love you.” 

The breath caught in Dean’s throat, icy. He growled through it. “Cas, don’t. Just- don’t.” _Please_. 

The angel- the _human_ ignored his words. He reached out a hand, steady, cupped it around the man’s twitching face. Dean leaned into it like he would the sun’s rays. As if there were nothing else he could do. 

“Dean Winchester, _I love you_.” 

“You can’t-“ 

“Why?” It was Cas’ turn to ask the question. 

Dean paused. “Because,” he said childishly, turning his gaze down at his shoes. They were covered in dust and specks of blood. “Because _I_ can’t do this. I don’t deserve this.” The words felt bitter in his mouth, poison. 

Cas shifted his hand across Dean’s cheek, rubbed his thumb under his eye as if wiping away a tear. “I’m sorry.” 

“No. _No_. God, stop.” Dean screwed his eyes shut. “I mean that you shouldn’t have done that. Not for me.” 

Cas’ eyebrows knit together. Dean began to pull away, opened his mouth to say something dismissing and painful, but Cas stopped him before he could and pulled him closer. “I don’t think you’re the one who decided what I should and shouldn’t do.” His eyes sparkled with unspoken laughter. 

Dean blinked up at him, doe-like. “I’m supposed to be good. I’m supposed to be the one who saves people, not breaks them.” _You did this for me, I did this to you._

“No, Dean.” The firmness of Cas’ voice startled him. Cas met his gaze with the power of a heavenly warrior, palm pressing into his chin. “You’re not supposed to be anything. Nothing except for you, the man that I’ve known for so long yet you seem to have never met.” 

Something burned behind Dean’s eyes, like the imprint of angelic wings being torn away, burnt out from their body. Words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them, before he even knew what he was saying. “Don’t leave me.” 

Castiel dipped his head, murmured, “I won’t.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Dean’s, bits of ashes caught between them. 

Dean closed his eyes and turned forward, into the kiss. The wind howled an empty song around them and the remains of wings were swept into the sky.


End file.
